YouTube Pays Tribute to Unsung Black Pioneers

In honor of Black History Month, YouTube today is featuring several videos highlighting African American pioneers on its homepage.

The videos are snippets from TV shows posted on the Web and feature stories of unsung black pioneers—meaning everyone besides Martin Luther King Jr., Harriett Tubman and Frederick Douglass, the usual black figures talked about in school.

The following African Americans are featured:

• Bessie Coleman, the first black female pilot
• Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut
• Max Robinson, the first black anchor of a network news television program (As a side note, the Bay Area has its own black pioneer in the TV news industry. Belva Davis was the first female black TV journalist on the West Coast. I just learned that she will be retiring from anchoring "This Week in Northern California" in November. She has been the anchor for that show for 19 years.)
• Willie O'Ree, the first black player in the National Hockey League

San Bruno-based YouTube often highlights videos in its Spotlight section based on videos that users have given high ratings. Anyone can contact YouTube's programming team at editor@youtube.com to offer suggestions for the Spotlight suggestion.

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